Infinite Marriage in a
Narrow-Minded Land

The Universal Marriage of
Mankind as human beings is a reality without exception that stands as an
exotic concept in the modern, narrow-minded world that is divided along countless lines by
religion, wealth, status, power, contracts, myths. In this 'shredded' world
the truth seems exotic. In the small world of universal isolation, people
become 'untouchable' to one another. Ironically, the small-world universal isolation is deemed
to afford security. But does it? The real humanity becomes thereby
increasingly hidden and the world a fascist desert, where society finds
anything but security and freedom, and the world goes to hell. Thus, the logical
answer is to 'unplug' the lies, and fears, and failures that have shredded
our humanity and tarnished its 'gold.' While this seems hard to learn,
the challenge is exciting and bright with promise as it opens the path to the most
fundamentally rooted concept of human relationships that is possible.
Ultimately we cannot hide from the truth of our universal humanity that we
all share, or be isolated from it for political objectives. Are we
not all human beings of a single humanity? On this platform we are more
deeply 'married' to one-another than any priest could sanctify.

While
the reality seems still scary to contemplate, more scary would be for us to
fail in implementing it. The train of failure would lead to nuclear war,
to the complete economic collapse of the world, to the imperial policy for world
depopulation, and above all, to the blocking of our meeting the Ice Age Challenge
that stands already before us.

The restaurant where we had eaten was one of many on the famous Chandni
Chowk, the main street of 'Old' Delhi. The whole street seemed to be one gigantic magnificent bazaar, a monument to congestion painted in bright colors, all interwoven with a flowing chaos of movements and a profusion of everything that ranks among the 'best' of its kind in India, as Indira assured me. I asked Indira if an after-dinner 'stroll' would be appropriate, since the air was still hot and would likely remain so for some hours.

She agreed that it would be good.

She pointed out while we walked that in the Seventeenth Century, in the days of Shah
Jahan, the emperor who built the Taj Mahal, the Old City of Delhi had been the pride of the Mogul Empire. It is said to have been the finest capital city in the world, endowed with exquisite mansions. The city had featured a tree-lined canal in those days, flowing down its center. Indira pointed out that the Old City of Delhi had been renowned throughout all of Asia for its beauty. "But that was a long time ago," she added

As far as I could see there was little of that left. As I saw it, the ancient world of beauty and serenity had given way to crowds of artisans, traders, rickshaws, all intermixed into a fascinating cocktail of stench, traffic, uproar, and the fumes of spice merchants and countless food vendors.

"Look, there's the Fatehpuri Mosque," said Indira to me excitedly as she sensed my fascination with historic Indian relics. She pointed to the western end of the street. "The great mosque - it's a bit hard to see from here - was built by one of Shah Jahan's wives in 1650. Would you like to see it up close. Would you like to enter it?"

"I would love to," I said with a smile. "With someone as beautiful as you for a guide, it would be a special delight."

She smiled and waved a finger at me.

"What is this supposed to mean?" I asked.

"It means what it means," she said and grinned.

"Do you find it miraculous that a person, which once lived like a
Dalit, can be regarded as being incredibly beautiful?" I asked.

"Oh, are you trying to coerce me?" she replied and began to grin.

"I have to answer to this that a human being is always a human being, no matter what the circumstances impose," I replied. "I have to answer that this is what makes you beautiful. Beauty is anchored in our humanity that never changes and is universal. You're the living proof of it. I see in you a natural beauty that has always been in you, that the Thevars haven't been able to erase, and they never will."

She blushed and reached out her hand. "Come," she said gently.

We continued on, hand in hand as lovers do, perhaps even in India. We stopped in many kinds of shops along the way, some of which Indira described as the non-tourist-traps. She smiled when I told her that I loved the smell of the spices in the air.

"Are you married?" I asked her at one point, right out of the blue.

"What do you think?" she replied. "Why would I want to be married? Marriage is a step with serious consequences in India. As soon as a woman is married under our religious codes, she becomes a Dalit of a different kind, even in her own house. She becomes property, and of course, like anywhere else in the world, she becomes an untouchable person. I don't want to live like that, not anymore, not in any way. I never did like this role. Living like a Dalit once is one time too many. The only untouchability that I accept is that which is determined by my sovereignty as a human being. In other words, my life is under my control. If this means that I have to live alone for the rest of my life, so be it."

"Except you don't have to do that any longer, or couldn't if you wanted to," I replied. "It is quite impossible to do that. The already existing universal marriage of humanity that includes you too makes that impossible. You are a member of the universal family of humanity. You can't escape that reality. Also, there exist no demarcation lines in this universal marriage in which we are all united as human beings. The only demarcation that exists there exists in the form that reflects our sovereignty. Wisdom sets up certain lines drawn in the sand for our protection. According to what you have already pointed out, you understand the principle of universal sovereignty quite well, which is a part of our universal marriage as human beings."

"Yes, but that goes against the grain of all the marriage laws in India, and against our customs and rites," said
Indira. "Of course I love it! I celebrated when Fred explained that someone was coming to tell me about this new and liberating concept of universal marriage, because it matched what I understood about the universal sovereignty of the human being. I loved you for that, even before I have seen you. The principle that you represent seems so right."

"Did you also realize," I asked, "that if you acknowledge that fundamental reality that already exists, you'll find it unnecessary to ever live alone again, and without being bound into an institutional marriage to someone who would own you? The old marriage model that demands that would deny the principles that you now recognize as the reality of your being. But even as you close your door to that, you open it wide to the universal freedom to be touched by the love of the whole world. When you close the door to the small, you open it to the infinite where your self-denial is no longer possible, nor required. The riches of our humanity comes to light then as the result of advanced scientific perceptions, the kind that Mary has put on the table a hundred years ago, that a friend of mine and I had recently discovered."

Indira nodded slightly. "Yes, Peter, I think I did realize that. I also realized something else a long time ago already, that a religion that forbids this reality from unfolding, is essentially a trap. It smothers a people."

"There is evidently no truth in doctrines of a religion when the priests, themselves ride rough shod over it, as you told me that they do in the way they tread the Dalit women," I interjected.

"It's not just that," said Indira quietly. "Our religious laws demand impregnable marriages, while the village priest who represent those laws, embrace the prostitution of Dalit women whom the Thevars generously share with them after the Thevars had their rape. Name me one religion that stands up for what a human being is, the love that our humanity represents, a religion that stands up for universal love! In fact, name me one religion that recognizes the universal marriage of humanity, and the universal sovereignty of the individual human being. I don't think such a religion exists. A religion can't represent that, right? That perception is only possible on a scientific platform. Can you find a religion that defines mankind in terms of universal divine Principle? That kind of religion doesn't exist. Some try to point in that direction, but the movement always fades into blind faith, some form of wizardry, and a general denial of our divine nature as human beings. The freedom of our humanity as a universal principle goes against the grain of all the religious that aim to dominate with terror doctrines."